Doubanjiang | Broad Bean Paste(豆瓣酱)

Sichuan cuisine is famous for widely used seasonings and spices. We are going to know the soul of Sichuan cuisine, doubanjiang (spicy broad bean paste). It is the most common and important seasoning for lots of famous Sichuan dishes including mapo tofu and twice-cooked pork.

Doubanjiang (豆瓣酱) literally means bean paste. There are several versions popular in different areas in China. Sichuan Doubanjiang is made from broad bean (fava beans) instead of soybean. There are two sub-versions—one is red oil doubanjiang, which is relatively easy to make and quite popular in housewives’ kitchen; the other one is famous Pixian doubanjiang produced in a small area named as Pixian of Sichuan province. Due to the excellent water sauces, great weather condition and ancestral recipe, Pixian Doubanjiang has its unique flavor and enjoys a high reputation all over world. Pixian doubanjiang usually goes through quite long fermentation time under sunshine. The prices vary based on the fermentation years. But the main market for Pixian doubanjiang is outside Sichuan province. It is quite sad that the tradition is losing due to the city development. Instead of using traditional fermentation method, modernized production lines are widely adopted to improve the outputs. However we are lucky as there are still some brands (Pi’xian Doubanjiang on amazon: Sichuan / Pixian / Pi Xian Broad Bean Paste 16OZ (454g)) to trust. If you meet premiere three-year doubanjiang, do not miss it at whatever price.

Common housewives in Sichuan province love to make their own Doubanjiang at home. The homemade Doubanjiang is produced by a simpler process but yield great tastes too. My family has the tradition to make Doubanjiang each year, making several large jars in turn and exchange with family members. We usually call homemade doubanjiang red oil doubanjiang, because usually a layer of oil is used to separate the doubanjiang from air.

Homemade red oil doubanjiang

Caution: the following is an extremely long post, as I am trying my best to explain everything in details. Making a jar of doubanjing is comforting and enjoying, but also time-consuming and expensive. If you plan to try it at home, please know the most important fungus during the process: Aspergillus oryzae, how it works and the best conditions.

I thought homemade doubanjiang can be quite easy after watching my mother and grandma making them year and year again. But it is true only if you are in China because we are making our homemade doubanjiang based on a essential ingredient—fermented broad beans(霉豆瓣). There is almost no chance to find fermented broad beans outside China, even outside Sichuan. So I went back to my hometown this year and make my own batch from just dried fava beans under their directions. I only start with a small batch and yield around 1.5 kg doubanjiang at last(in the little earth jar shown in above picture).

My mom did not make fermented broad beans previously but my grandma did. I have double checked with her and tried several batches using natural fermentation in my apartment. Guess what? All of the tests failed. After reading lots of articles and papers, I found out the reason is the environment-my apartment. Fungus widely exist in my grandma’s yard as she make fermented foods each year, but my apartment is too clean so there is very little starters around. So I further find out a shortcut and saver way–using kit for the fermentation. Koji kit is the sprouts of Aspergillus oryzae. After loaded with the sprouts, broad beans can be fermented in a short time and meanwhile reduce the chance to be infected by other harmful fungus.

Firstly soak the beans overnight with enough water and then drain.Transfer the beans to a steamer and steam for 20-45 minutes based on the hight of the layer until just well cooked (when you break them in halves in hand, there is no raw part inside, but the beans should not be too fragile to smash easily). You can taste the beans. They should be slightly stiff but well cooked already.

After steaming, transfer the beans out immediately and spread to cool down. In summer, make sure they are cooled down completely. Then mix the starter with 3g flour. The powder in the small spoon is the starter I use, known as koji kit (koji mold spores). You can purchase a Japanese version from amazon.

Spread the starter to the beans and massage with hands to make sure all the beans are loaded with starter.

Then flat them and cover with a wet clean cloth (I soak the cloth in cooled boiled water and please keep the cloth away from the beans). Place on a baking cooling rack so there is air going through underneath and place in shadow place (try to avoid sunshine). Keep the temperature between 30 to 36 degree C and the air humidity around 80% (at least 70%).

If weather condition is great, it should look this after several hours.

Then after another 12 to 16 hours, it looks like this.

Lovely? I watch them for minutes.

After another 12 hours to 16 hours, the white hair turns yellow.

When the hair turns yellow, stop the fermentation via drying under sunshine.

After one day drying under sunshine, it looks like. That’s the fermented broad beans(霉豆瓣).

Wash the beans under running water gently and drain. Then add 30ml Chinese white spirit (白酒), 250ml cooled boiled water and 50g salt.Mix well and fermented for 30 hours to 40 hours (covered).

Then you will get this.

Wash the pepper and air dry for 5-10 hours. And then cut into small pieces. Add around 40g salt and set aside for 1 hour before mixing with the beans.

Scoop the red peppers to the beans and discard the extra liquid at the bottom. Mix in spices, 50ml oil and 2 tablespoons of fermented sticky rice (you can skip this if hard to acquire). And transfer the mixture into the pot.

This is optional! In the first 7 days, place in warm place (under sunshine ) and uncover by day and half covered by night.
Add oil to cover the doubanjiang (3-4 cm higher), cover the lid and place in warm place. Then we pass everything to time. Let it ferments for at least 3 months before enjoying. Use cleaned tool to scoop the sauce out and it can be kept for 2-3 years.

After three months. Homemade red oil doubanjiang has a lighter and brighter color comparing with Pixian doubanjiang.

Firstly soak the beans overnight with enough water and then drain.Then transfer the beans to a steamer and steam the board beans for 20-45 minutes based on the hight of the layer until just well cooked (when you break it in halves in hand, there is no raw part inside, but the beans should not be too fragile to smash easily). You can taste the beans. They should be slightly stiff but well cooked already.

After steaming, transfer the beans out immediately and spread to cool down. In summer, make sure they are cooled down completely. Then mix the starter with 3g flour.

Spread the starter to the beans and message with hands to make sure all the beans are loaded with starter.

Spread the starter to the beans and message with hand to make sure all the beans are loaded with starter.Then flat them and cover with a wet clean cloth (I soak the cloth in cooled boiled water and please keep the cloth away from the beans). Place on a baking cooling rack so there is air going through underneath and place in shadow place (try to avoid sunshine). Keep the temperature between 30 to 36 degree C and the air humidity around 80% (at least 70%). Wait for 24 to 48 hours until the white hair turns yellow.Stop the fermentation via drying under sunshine.

Make Doubanjiang mixture

Wash the beans under running water gently and drain. Then add 30ml white spirit, 250ml cooled boiled water and 50g salt.Mix well and fermented for 30 hours to 40 hours (covered).

Wash the pepper and air dry for 5-10 hours. And then cut into small pieces (I chop ginger along with peppers). Add around 40g salt and set aside for 1 hour before mixing with the beans.

Scoop the red peppers to the beans and discard the liquid on bottom. Mix in spices, 50ml oil and 2 tablespoons of fermented sticky rice. And transfer the mixture into the pot.

This is optional! In the first 7 days, place in warm place (under sunshine ) and uncover by day and half covered by night.

Add oil to cover the doubanjiang (3-4 cm higher), cover the lid and place in warm place. Them we pass everything to time. Let it ferments for at least 3 months before enjoying.

Hi Elaine, I’ve made your recipe a couple times now. It’s fantastic. I currently have a big 10 litre pot I’ve been aging for the last 8 months. But I’m curious about one of the steps during the process. You call for the addition of Chinese white spirit to the washed beans beans and salt.What does the addition of alcohol do other then add flavour during the first step? Does it inhibit the growth of yeast during the lactic acid fermentation? would be interested to know. thanks

Chinese Pantry

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